What is MTG Heritage?

An MtG format that allows only in-Universe cards from sets that have been legal in the Standard format. This includes Core sets (ABUR, 5th, 6th… Magic 2020, 2021, etc.) and Expansion sets. Supplemental sets will NOT be recognized by the Heritage format (Horizons sets, Commander sets, Universes Beyond, Un- sets, Jumpstarts, External IPs, etc.). See the Legal Set List here.

What’s the Vision for the format?

Heritage is a Magic: the Gathering format which aims to provide a gradually-evolving metagame with a diverse array of unique strategies, with an appreciation for the rich history of the card pool.

Why the name “Heritage”?

The format intends to preserve the historical intent and feel of Eternal formats, whereby cards were tested and “graduated” into them rather than being injected directly, thus their original tradition or Heritage.

Why was this format created?

There are many in the community of Eternal formats who feel that supplemental sets are not good for the formats, for multiple reasons:

• They introduce inordinate power creep (e.g. Modern Horizons sets)
• They introduce mechanics that are not balanced, intuitive, or fun in a heads up format (Initiative, Monarch, Will of the Council)
• They introduce card flavor and themes that do not jive with the MtG lore (Universes Beyond, Unfinity, etc.)
• Supplemental and UB sets are being released too frequently and can be a headache to keep up with and buy into. With Heritage, you can expect ~2-3 in-universe sets to enter the format each year.

How might bannings and unbannings work?

Our plan is to establish a Heritage panel, similar to the Pauper Panel, that can provide deep analysis and proper transparency around bannings or inaction. Decisions will be made with a 2/3 affirmative panel vote, no earlier than 1 month after a card is released.

Cards will become candidates for banning/unbanning based on sentiment in the Heritage Discord. The Mod team will monitor sentiment and propose contested cards to be voted on by the panel. Votings will occur no more than once per month.

A panel, however, has not been established yet, as we have insufficient data from Heritage games played to require bannings or unbannings at this time.

What’s the current banned list?

The current banned list can be found here.

Will my Legacy deck work in Heritage?

Most of today’s (and yesterday’s!) Legacy decks and archetypes will still “work” in Heritage. 

Notables include: Delver, Lands, Loam, Elves, ANT/TES, Doomsday, Aluren, Reanimator, Stompy, Most Control variants, and many more

See below list of cards for an indication.

What notable Legacy cards will not be in Heritage (from supplemental sets)?

Refer to our dedicated page: Cards You Won’t See

Of note, while not a supplemental set, it has been decided that Dungeons and Dragons sets will not be included in Heritage. Though there is minor overlap with the MtG universe, DnD has its own unique flavor and backstory largely outside of Magic’s canon (see WotC’s statement on this here)

Where can I play Heritage?

For now, games can primarily take place on the MTG Heritage Discord Server, where you’ll be able to play via webcam / cockatrice. 

MTGO remains an option as long as players agree not to use supplemental cards in their lists.

In store play is an option if locales get excited about Heritage and the LGS allows proxies.

Can I query scryfall.com for Heritage legal cards?

st:core or st:expansion AND format:Legacy AND -atag:external-ip

As of July ‘25, this returns 23,810 cards. format:legacy returns 29,019, so 5,019 cards (so about 18%) have been excluded.

Are proxies allowed?

Yes please! This will be a casual, community-run format. We only request that proxies are high-quality prints and not Crayola on a Swamp.